Firearm technology is constantly evolving to provide safer, more efficient, and/or more reliable firearms. The Sa vzor 58 rifle was developed in Czechoslovakia between 1956 and 1958 and soon became the standard firearm in that country during its years as a Soviet controlled country. Various versions of the Sa vzor 58 have become very popular with gun collectors, sportsmen, and the like, and a demand has developed for these rifles. However, certain laws (federal and state) prohibit the importation, sell, and/or use of such weapons in the United States unless certain modifications are made to the weapons.
California is particularly well known for its strict gun laws including, for example, California Penal Code section 12276.1(a)(1) regarding detachable magazines and the requirement that certain weapons not be equipped with detachable magazines. One way to comply with this legal provision is by the use of a “bullet button” which requires an external object (e.g., a bullet or tool) to depress a button so that a magazine can be released from a magazine well on a weapon. However, laws are subject to change, and there has been a growing trend to further limit the dissemination of firearms. Thus, in the years to come, a “bullet button” device may not be enough for law abiding weapons enthusiasts to import, own, or otherwise use a rifle such as a modified Sa vzor 58.
More recently, the State of Connecticut has enacted gun control legislation defining an “assault weapon” as a “semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine” wherein a “detachable magazine” is defined as “an ammunition feeding device that can be removed without disassembling the firearm action”. See section 53-202a of the Connecticut General Statutes.
The Sa vzor 58, for example, is configured such that, even if employing a magazine block for mechanically preventing a magazine from being disengaged from a rifle unless a receiver cover is removed, such a magazine could still be removed mechanically (and therefore categorized as a “detachable magazine”) by manipulation of a safety pin without necessarily removing the rifle's bolt carrier assembly (i.e., the “firearm action”). The same problem exists with respect to vzor 58 pistols. Therefore, under certain state laws such as those of Connecticut, an Sa vzor 58 rifle (or pistol version) would still be technically defined as an assault weapon despite the use of a magazine block apparatus such as, for example, described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,191,298 entitled “Magazine Quick-Release Blocking Apparatus and Method”.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus and method for modifying a firearm such as a Sa vzor 58 rifle or pistol such that the firearm magazine cannot be detached from the rifle without necessarily disassembling the rifle firing action.